Reika gasps as she quickly cover her eyes with her hands, "Unbelievable! You're the one who told me to come here."
"Well," Yuzuru snorts. "You were supposed to wait outside. You're lucky I'm the only one here right now, what if there are other men changing?"
Reika flushes in embarrassment and turns around. "Canarya told me—whatever. Please put on some clothes already."
"Hm." Reika can feel his hands touching hers and slowly move them away from her face so she can open her eyes. Yuzuru stands close in front of her, his expression remains flat. "I'm done changing. Let's go."
He didn't let go of her hand as they walk out of the locker room. Reika stares at their intertwined hands as she walks behind him, eventually scanning him from top to bottom. He had already change from his tight black training gear to a more loose pants and the blue Japan jacket. She can still see sweat beads on his neck, probably from the exhausting training he had.
As they walk pass the side benches near the rink, a certain someone see them and couldn't help to call. "Yuzuru-san! Going home already?"
They stopped walking and Yuzuru let go of Reika's hand to interact with Evgenia, "Yeah, I finished early today. How about you?"
Evgenia responds to him cheerfully, but Reika doesn't care to listen. She stares at her hand that Yuzuru held before, and sighs in dissapointment from losing the warmth of Yuzuru's soft hands.
"Can we go home now?" Reika finally asks after standing around for a few minutes, listening to Yuzuru and Evgenia talk.
Yuzuru turns to her, as if he just realized Reika's there. "Right, sorry. Let's go."
"I'll get going then, see you, Zhenya-san!" Yuzuru waves his hand to Evgenia before leaving with Reika.
When they arrived at his condo, Reika noticed a bruise on Yuzuru's upper neck, almost covered by his long hair. But before she could point it out Yuzuru already hangs his jacket on the capstock and enter his room.
Reika sighs as she enter her own and put her stuffs on the bed. She removes her cardigan and begins to strip her clothes away one by one as she's looking for her towel she forgot where she put.
Reika is still wearing her knee-socks and underwear when the door suddenly opens and Yuzuru enters without knocking.
"Do you know where's my pain relief patches? I think Okaasan put some in this ro—" His words stop when his gaze fell upon Reika, who's practically almost naked right in front of him. And for a long ten seconds which feels like forever, both of them just stand there, frozen.
SKIN. I CAN SEE SO MUCH OF SKIN. HER SKIN. His brain malfunctions and seems to crash, but eventually realization and embarrassment gets to him and he yells an "I'M SO SORRY" before escaping her room in rash, almost stumbling on his own feet.
He sits at his room leaning at the door and he could hear Reika's high-pitched screaming, as if she also just realized what happened.
"Yuzuru what the hell?!" He slaps himself to ease his guilt, but it didn't help. "Oh God now I can't get it off my mind!"
The picture of Reika Fueguchi wearing knee-socks and black matching underwear which contrasts with her pale milky skin just couldn't leave his mind. Her petite body and small waist... What has she done to him? Witchcraft, he comforts himself. This is definitely witchcraft.
Yuzuru shakes his head and slap his own cheeks again to force himself out of it, strips himself and goes to his bathroom to take a bath and clear his head.
***
Reika wipes herself with the towel to make sure she's completely dry before putting on her pajamas. She can still feel hotness her cheeks, which means her face is still red from the embarrassment. Heck, she had her fair shares of being walked in by her brothers when she's naked, but this is the first time someone other than family sees her body.
"Well... maybe not the first time," she whispers as she recalls the incident when she fell asleep in Yuzuru's bath tub.
"Ah right, earlier Yuzuru-san mentioned something about pain relief patches," Reika had found some on the drawer. It's probably a good idea to give it to him, but she's still too embarrassed to see his face. After a few minutes of gathering her courage, she finally opens her door and leave her room to go to Yuzuru's.
She instead found him sitting on the couch, watching the television. "Ah, Yuzuru-san." She can feel her face getting hot again when Yuzuru looks up to her, but she quickly looks away and hands him the patches. "Here's the pain relief patches you were looking for."
"Oh, thanks." To her surprise, Yuzuru's face is as red as hers. Oh?
"Also... can you sit here for a sec?" Reika raises an eyebrow to that request, but still she sits besides him on the couch.
"I'm sorry for barging in your room, I should've knocked first." His voice were low and his head was down looking at the couch the whole time. "I... I wanted to say things like 'don't worry, I didn't see anything', but that would be a lie. I saw... you. I'm sorry."
Reika doesn't know what to answer him, so all she did was nod. But then her mind thinks of something. "If you're really sorry... can you tell me why you were so cold to me recently?"
His eyes widened. "What do you mean?"
"Ever since we moved to Canada. You've been acting so cold. You head out early in the morning and came home late at night, you never ate any of my cookings, you..." Reika panically wipes away her unexpected tears, but they keep coming out of her eyes.
Her voice was shaky and her hands were trembling as she continues, "I.. I know you don't like me. But we're married, aren't we? I'm trying really hard here... I don't know anyone here. I don't have anything to do. I'm so far away from my family and friends... I'm scared."
Yuzuru, you really are a horrible jerk, he thought to himself. Watching her cry and state her feelings out with that shaky voice melts away all the cold thoughts he had kept and makes his heart filled with guilt. He wanted to wipe her tears and touch her face, but instead he quickly pulls her in his arms, hugging her as tight as he can.
"Gomen," he whispers as he pats her hair. Yuzuru lets Reika cries on his chest, wrapping his arms around her to give comfort.
"I'll make it right," Yuzuru softly says as he slowly and delicately, as if she's the most fragile thing, brushes his lips on her forehead.
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Author's note; Thank you for the warm response last chapter <3 I really hope you enjoy this chapter.
And please comment your thoughts🥺🥺 reading your comments are what motivates me to write this book ㅠ_ㅠ
